By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-03 14:52:55
圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)（左）在2024年12月15日周日于圣安东尼奥进行的一场NBA比赛下半场中防守明尼苏达森林狼队中锋鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert)（右）。(AP Photo/Billy Calzada)
问题不在于挡拆防守。不在于球探报告。也不在于即将面对的共同对手的优势或倾向。
每当鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert) 接到同胞“法国双塔”维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的电话时，他永远不知道谈话的主题会是什么。
他只知道，那大概率不会是关于篮球的。
“几周前，他问我家里用的是哪种滤水器，”戈贝尔说道。“这足以说明他的思维方式有多特别。”
欢迎来到NBA季后赛第二轮，文班亚马发现他通往首次西部决赛的道路，被他的老友以及（显然是）软水机推销员挡住了。
文班亚马，马刺队22岁的超级巨星中锋，与他在明尼苏达的对手、33岁的戈贝尔相识已有六年。
在两人初识时，戈贝尔已经是犹他爵士队的成名球星。而当时年仅16岁的文班亚马，正迅速积累声誉，被视为联盟和这项运动的未来。
鉴于这段往事，这对法国双塔在NBA季后赛的相遇——从周一在弗罗斯特银行中心 (Frost Bank Center) 进行的首战开始——仿佛是命中注定。
“他作为榜样意义重大，”文班亚马在谈到戈贝尔时表示，“他在很多方面都激励了我。他应该是所有大个子的楷模。”
随着文班亚马和戈贝尔成为系列赛的核心对决，预计西部半决赛将演变成一场毫无保留的防守肉搏战。
尤其是森林狼队的全明星后卫兼头号得分手安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 预计将因在首轮对阵丹佛时遭遇的左膝伤势而缺席系列赛初段，这种可能性进一步增加。
戈贝尔曾四次荣膺NBA年度最佳防守球员。而文班亚马在本赛季首次接过了这一火炬，成为历史上最年轻且首位全票获得哈基姆·奥拉朱旺奖杯的球员。
“我非常、非常自豪，也很兴奋看到他每天都在成长，看到他的努力得到了回报，”戈贝尔说道。
在文班亚马和戈贝尔的带领下，马刺和森林狼以类似的方式晋级第二轮。
即：彻底锁死对手的进攻。
马刺在四场胜利中有三场将波特兰开拓者的得分限制在100分或以下，本赛季（包括季后赛）在将对手得分限制在百分以内时，马刺的战绩提升至14胜0负。
“如果你只看表面数据，那是工作完成得很好，”马刺主帅米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 表示，“但我认为有几场比赛二次进攻得分伤害了我们，还有几场比赛是失误丢分。所以当你把这些因素考虑进去时，这意味着我们的半场防守可能比数据体现出来的还要好一些。”
由于爱德华兹至少在系列赛初期缺阵，且得分后卫唐特·迪温琴佐 (Donte DiVincenzo) 因跟腱断裂赛季报销，人们有理由怀疑森林狼是否有足够的火力与马刺令人窒息的防守抗衡。
要想爆冷，明尼苏达需要在防守端表现得更加吝啬。
与马刺一样，森林狼在首轮的四场胜利中也有三场将丹佛掘金的高效进攻限制在100分以下。
明尼苏达以110-98击败掘金锁定系列赛胜局，这是该队在过去三个赛季中第15次在季后赛中丢分少于100分，这一数据在同期排名联盟第二。
“他们试图将这种意志、这种竞争性强加于你，”约翰逊说道。
简而言之，这场西部半决赛可能会让那些喜欢老派、肉搏篮球的球迷如痴如醉。先到100分的球队获胜。
明尼苏达前锋杰登·麦克丹尼尔斯 (Jaden McDaniels) 在首轮系列赛中发出了挑战，他指出掘金的阵容中“全是糟糕的防守者”。
麦克丹尼尔斯无法对森林狼的第二轮对手说出同样的话。
虽然身高7英尺4英寸的文班亚马和7英尺1英寸的戈贝尔是两队最显眼的防守球星，但他们并非孤军奋战。
强硬的控球后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 已成长为全明星级别的防守者。德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 和朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 在侧翼提供了体型、臂展和活力。替补中锋卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 则在文班亚马下场休息时提供了顶级的护筐能力。
明尼苏达非常依赖麦克丹尼尔斯作为其顶级的领防人。他很可能会首先对位达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)，这位全明星后卫在首轮是马刺队内仅次于文班亚马的第二得分手。
“他们有很多优秀的持球防守者，”卡斯尔说道。“他们在防守端打得很努力。他们有很多球员能进行多次轮转补防。我们要做的就是打出团队篮球，让他们去防守多次战术配合——这大概就是我们对付他们的办法。”
尽管如此，系列赛的所有目光仍将集中在文班亚马和戈贝尔身上。这两位专注于防守的法国巨人很难被忽视。
戈贝尔和森林狼将寻求连续第三次闯入分区决赛，而文班亚马则在冲击他的第一次。
如果是其他任何对决，戈贝尔都会支持他曾经的门徒。
“除了天赋，他还是一个拥有非常独特灵魂和头脑的人，没有任何事情是偶然的，”戈贝尔表示。“他能取得现在的成功绝非偶然。”
但就目前而言，戈贝尔希望文班亚马的成功到此为止。滤水器的事可以先放一放。
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：San Antonio Spurs Minnesota Timberwolves defense reigns supreme
San Antonio Spurs Minnesota Timberwolves defense reigns supreme
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, left, guards against Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Billy Calzada)
The question was not about pick and roll coverages. It was not about scouting reports. It was not about an upcoming common opponents’ strengths or tendencies.
Whenever Rudy Gobert picks up a phone call from fellow French tower Victor Wembanyama, he never knows what the topic of conversation might be.
He just knows it probably won’t be basketball.
"A few weeks ago he asked me what kind of filter I had in my house for water,” Gobert said. “It just tells you how his mind is.”
Welcome to the second round of the NBA playoffs, where Wembanyama has arrived to find his path to his first Western Conference final blocked by his old friend and (apparently) soft water sales rep.
Wembanyama, the Spurs’ 22-year-old superstar center, and Gobert, his 33-year-old counterpart in Minnesota, have known each other for six years.
Gobert was already an established NBA star in Utah at the time of their introduction. Wembanyama was 16 years old, quickly burnishing a reputation as the future of the league and the sport.
Given that history, the French pair’s meeting in the NBA playoffs – beginning with Monday’s Game 1 at the Frost Bank Center — feels like a matter of kismet.
“He’s meant a lot as a role model,” Wembanyama said of Gobert. “There’s lots of (ways) that he inspired me. He should be a model for all big men.”
With Wembanyama and Gobert as the showpiece matchup, expect the Western Conference semifinals to devolve a no-holds-barred, defensive fistfight.
That is especially likely with Anthony Edwards, the Timberwolves’ All-Star guard and leading scorer, is slated to begin the series on the shelf with a left knee injury suffered in the first round against Denver.
Gobert is a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Wembanyama seized that mantle for the first time this season, becoming the youngest and first unanimous winner of the Hakeem Olajuwon trophy in history.
“I’m very, very proud and I’m very excited to watch him grow every day, to see his work paying off,” Gobert said.
With Wembanyama and Gobert at the fore, the Spurs and Timberwolves advanced to the second round in similar fashion.
Namely, by strangling the absolute life out of the opposition’s offense.
The Spurs limited Portland to 100 points or less in three of their four victories, improving to 14-0 this season (including playoffs) when keeping an opponent from cracking the century mark.
“If you just take that on face value, that’s a job well done,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And then I think we had a few games where the second-chance points hurt us. We had a few games where the points off turnovers. And so when you actually put that into the equation, that means the half-court defense was maybe even a little better than some of those numbers would say.”
With Edwards out for at least the start of the series and shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo out for the remainder of the playoffs with a ruptured Achilles tendon, it is fair to wonder if the Timberwolves will have enough firepower to contend with the Spurs’ stifling defense.
To have any chance at an upset, Minnesota will need to be even more miserly in its own defensive performance.
Like the Spurs, the Wolves held Denver’s high-powered offense to under 100 points in three of their four wins in the first round as well.
Minnesota’s series-clinching 110-98 victory over the Nuggets marked the 15th time the club had given up less than 100 in a playoff game in the last three seasons, the second-most in the league during that span.
“They try to impose that will impose their will and their competitiveness on you,” Johnson said.
In short, this Western Conference semifinal might hit like catnip to fans of old-school, smashmouth basketball. First team to 100 wins.
Minnesota forward Jaden McDaniels laid down the gantlet in his team’s first-round series, noting the Nuggets’ roster was stocked with “all bad defenders.”
McDaniels cannot say the same about the Timberwolves’ second-round opponent.
Though the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama and 7-1 Gobert are the most obvious defensive stars on each team, they are not alone.
Rugged point guard Stephon Castle has emerged as an All-NBA type defender. Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie provide size, length and activity on the wings. Backup center Luke Kornet provides elite rim protection when Wembanyama is on the bench.
Minnesota leans heavily on McDaniels as its top point-of-attack defender. He is likely to get the first crack at De’Aaron Fox, the All-Star guard who was the Spurs’ second-leading scorer in the first round behind Wembanyama.
“They have a lot of good on-ball defenders,” Castle said. “They play hard on that end. They have a lot of guys that make multiple efforts. Just playing team basketball, make them guard multiple actions – that would probably be what we need to do against that.”
Still, all eyes in the series will be on Wembanyama and Gobert. The twin defensive-minded Frenchmen are hard to miss.
Gobert and the Timberwolves will be seeking their third consecutive trip to the conference finals. Wembanyama is eyeing his first.
Were it any other matchup, Gobert would be pulling for his one-time protégé.
“Outside of the talent, he’s someone that has a very unique soul, a very unique mind and nothing is an accident,” Gobert said. “It’s not an accident that he’s having the success that he’s having.”
For now, Gobert hopes Wembanyama’s success stops here. The water filter can wait.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News